61 posts from January 2008

Thursday, January 31, 2008

The longer John Edwards delays in offering his endorsement to either Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama, the less that endorsement will mean to the voters and to the candidates themselves.

His failure to endorse yesterday during his announcement that he's suspending his campaign gives rise to the suspicion that he's looking for some sort of favor or assurance from either Obama or Clinton before bestowing his nod; that his endorsement, when he gives it, will be even less sincere than many other political endorsements.

And it might be that this weekend will be his last chance to offer an endorsement that really matters. The Democratic race could be all but decided after next Tuesday, meaning the candidate who ultimately gets Edwards' endorsement will be entitled to say, "Gee, thanks, where were you when I needed you?" As opposed to, "May I offer you a cabinet position?"

He's followed this race and these two candidates as close as anyone. What's he waiting for?

Barack Obama, of all politicians, ought to recognize the perils of stonewalling and hoping a story will go away instead of confronting it head on. It's possible that the reason he won the Illinois
Democratic U.S. Senate primary in 2004 was because his leading challenger,
the ultra-wealthy political novice Blair Hull, was evasive about the contents of his divorce records.

Those records finally spilled open very late in the campaign and sank Hull's prospects. In hindsight he should have fronted those records early in the campaign and tried to turn them into old news.

I added that Obama ought to have learned the same lesson from his initial GOP opponent in the 2004 general election, Jack Ryan. Ryan tried to hide and then lost control of his divorce records as well, and the conflagration that greeted the exposure drove him from the race.

I tend to think Obama would have beaten both Hull and Ryan even without the divorce eruptions, but there's no question that the failure of both men to get out ahead of these stories and tell them rather than have them uncovered, revealed and exposed cost them dearly.

The comments thread on this topic has been a lively place this morning, and some of the opinions and questions being offered persuade me still further that Obama needs to try to take hold of this story and clarify every element as much as possible.

The comical part of the debate to me is how indignant and shocked some of the Obamaphobes are at the very idea that someone may have done a favor for a political candidate.

Oh, dear! Perhaps that person will demand a favor in return!

Get back on the turnip truck, folks. Or stop pretending like you just fell off.

What are big campaign donations but favors? What are major business and union endorsements but favors? What is organizing a big fundrasing event but a favor?

And what successful political candidate can you point to and say he's favor free?

*Compared to those who do not read news and commentary in any form or follow the news on radio or TV.

The sticker on a carton of milk we brought at Jewel recently featured a photo of a box of Kellogg's Frosted Mini-Wheats and an illustration of a cartoon Mini-Wheat smiling and pointing to a chalkboard:

Clinically show to improve kids' attentiveness by nearly 20%!

Wow? Some caffeine in those Mini-Wheats?

No. The fine print under the illustration explains:

Based upon independent clinical research, kids who ate Kellogg's Frosted Mini-Wheats cereal for breakfast had up to 18 percent better attentiveness three hours after breakfast than kids who ate no breakfast.

Flabbergasted italics mine.

This is an ad that promotes eating breakfast.

The hilarity continues when you follow the Web link to the actual writeup of this "study."

Children were tested prior to eating breakfast to get a base measurement. Then, children were either provided a breakfast of Kellogg’s Frosted Mini-Wheats cereal or water. Next, the children were given a series of tests (the same tests and measurements as prior to the breakfast) each hour for three consecutive hours. The results were taken for three hours after breakfast since this is most likely when children may start to feel hungry, which may lead to distraction.

I invite readers to come up with similar promotions for other products.

It was 15 months ago that the Tribune broke the story about the unusual but evidently quite legal real estate deal between U.S. Sen. Barack Obama and controversial businessman Tony Rezko.

The deal, involving the purchase of adjoining properties in Hyde Park, began in mid-2005. Rezko was indicted in October of the following year on federal charges that he was part of a state-government kickback scheme.

Obama expressed contrition and regret in the early going: Doing the deal with the radioactive Rezko was “stupid” and “boneheaded,” he told the Tribune editorial board in a wide-ranging interview in December 2006.

Rezko, a generous contributor to Obama’s campaigns, “no doubt believed that by buying the piece of property next to me that he would, if not be doing me a favor, it would help strengthen our relationship,” Obama said. But there was no apparent payback, no scam, no skim.

And no more to the story.

Pesky reporters kept digging around, as well they should have given that Obama announced in February 2007 that he was running for president and waving the banner of political reform.

Local news organizations began exploring all the intricacies of Obama’s long-term relationship with the shady moneyman and putting to the test Obama’s early claim, “[Rezko] never asked me for anything. I’ve never done any favors for him.”

Nothing significant has surfaced to contradict the essence of that claim or prove Obama acted unethically. But journalists are still looking because they’re not satisfied that they have the full story.

And that’s Obama’s fault. At some point early in his campaign for the White House, he apparently decided he’d said all he wanted to say and all there was to say about his dealings with Rezko. He would not grant follow-up interviews on the subject to investigative reporters, and his staff provided written and often inadequate responses to written questions.

Maybe he thought the questions were irritating—picky, repetitive, dripping with insinuations. Maybe he thought there was so little to this would-be scandal that reporters would forget about it and move on to another politician’s curious entanglements. Or maybe ....

Well, it sure looked like he was hiding something.

This was bonehead deluxe. Megabonehead. Boneheadissimo.

Rezko’s looming trial date (it’s next month) was bound to exhume any part of the story that had died. The national media was inevitably going to want to take a crack at the tale that places Obama squarely in the skeezy milieu of Illinois politics.

And if he became a top contender, his rivals were bound to look for ways to play the Rezko card and throw him off for at least a few news cycles.

Spring of last year would have been the time for Obama and his advisers to write “The Audacity of Tony,” a meticulous, utterly honest, month-by-month, day-by-day account of all his dealings with Rezko since 1990.

Then to scrub all his political accounts of any donations somehow attributable to Rezko (instead of doing this by conspicuous degrees).

And, finally, to sit with interested reporters until he’d addressed every last question they might still have about the legal work he did for non-profits who worked with Rezko and the granular details of the real estate deal.

His failure to have done this for 15 months doesn’t speak to a guilty conscience so much as it speaks to dubious crisis-management skills.

Speaking for myself, I don’t expect a perfect president, just one who’s wholly candid after he or she makes a mistake.

Another big question: Is that really so much to ask?MORE:

Tony Rezko, the early warnings --Excerpts from just a few of the bigger stories about Tony Rezko prior to the June, 2005 real estate transaction between Barack Obama and Tony Rezko.

Well, my relationship is [that Tony Rezko] was somebody who I knew and had been a supporter for many years. He was somebody who had supported a wide range of candidates all throughout Illinois. Nobody had an inkling that he was involved in any problems....Barack Obama on CBS "Early Show" Jan. 23

Nobody had any indications that [Rezko] was engaging in wrongdoing....Barack Obama on ABC's "Good Morning America" Jan. 23

Here are excerpts from just a few of the bigger stories about Tony Rezko that made headlines in the Tribune prior to the June, 2005 real estate transaction between Barack Obama and Tony Rezko:

If for some reason, any one of my oldest and dearest friends ever makes a terrible mistake with no malice in his heart that results in my death, go easy on him.

What prompts this declaration is news that Scott Hirschey was charged Tuesday with homicide by intoxicated use of a vehicle in the wake of the snowmobile crash last week in Wisconsin that killed his lifelong friend, CBS-2 morning news anchor Randy Salerno (pictured, CBS-2 photo).

Obviously the law must strongly discourage drunken snowmobiling and extreme regret doesn't qualify under most circumstances as sufficient punishment for a crime.

But forgiving those who will never be able to forgive themselves is what good friends do. I'd want mercy to be my final gift.

Thanks to WGN's Rob Hart for this 28-second audio excerpt from Gov. Rod Blagojevich's news conference yesterday at which reporters pressed him about his connection to Tony Rezko.

Transcript:

There is a bigger issue, and it could suggest maybe why those newspapers are gettin' skinnier and skinnier . Because these guys like to write about stuff that don’t really matter to people....

If they want to see their newspaper get a little thicker and have more people read it, they ought to write about stuff that people care about and that actually matters to them, not all this baloney that they think sells newspapers but at the end of the day just turn things off ...

You guys will have a thicker newspaper and people will watch your TV shows more on the news if you actually put some news on there that impacts and matters to people.

Normally I'd tidy up the governor's grammar -- make that "don't" a "doesn't" as the Sun-Times did in its story this morning -- but I sense it was a deliberate on Blagojevich's part to sound a populist, regular guy note: Ah, that corruption stuff don't matter...it's just baloney to try to sell newspapers.

Arellano and her U.S.-born son, Saul, sought refuge in [Adalberto United Methodist Church in Chicago's Humboldt Park neighborhood] in August 2006. They shared a room in an apartment above the church, where Arellano remained for 12 months. Federal authorities arrested Arellano in Los Angeles and swiftly deported her to Mexico after she slipped out of the Chicago church to spearhead a nationwide campaign for reform.

Crisostomo, 28, also an undocumented immigrant under a deportation order, is now claiming sanctuary from the law in that same church.

It remains to be seen whether Immigration and Customes Enforcement (ICE) officials will again tacitly endorse this extra-legal claim of sanctuary by standing patiently aside, as they did in Arellano's case, and wait for Crisostomo to get bored and seek more attention for herself by leaving the church.

Or whether they'll try to nip the bud of this chuch-as-sanctuary notion -- a particularly thin claim here since Crisostomo, like Arellano before her, is living an an apartment attached to the church, not sleeping in the pews -- and move quickly to arrest her.

But either way it's almost certain that Crisostomo's defiance of our laws, like Arellano's before her, will generate more overall hostility than it will sympathy until she's ultimately arrested and deported.

Setting aside your views on the immigration issue, put on your tactician's hat and tell me what you'd advise Crisostomo and her fellow activists to do to call favorable attention to their cause. (Snark will not be posted)

There's buzzonlineabout Hillary Clinton's repeated plea of "Will you help me?" at the end of a speech to supporters last week in North Bergen, N.J.

It has the same slightly unhinged quality as the "Dean Scream," but after you listen to the relevant excerpt here, tell me objectively whether you think there would have been any buzz at all if a male candidate with a lower voice had said exactly the same thing under similar circumstances.

He is a bit too quick to resort to French in search of le mot juste...Michael Kinsley on Christopher Hitchens

To elect Obama would be to "roll the dice," sniffed the former president. When Bill Clinton ran for president in 1992, he was governor of a small state, had no foreign policy experience and didn't know how to salute.....Colbert I. King

Growing up is sometimes an exercise in learning to go through the motions, and sometimes a genuine feeling can follow upon an action that's repeated until it's instilled....Emily Bazelon

There are unique burdens and stresses that go with being a Wisconsinite. People don't understand this. Ever had your snowmobile die on you in a remote area during a blizzard and eventually been forced to eat Stan, your brother?...Rick Morrissey

I saw the perfect coat on some El chick last night. I am extremely picky about outerwear and her coat was amazing. I wanted to take it and run. .... Her very cool boots were also very coveted by me. Basically I just wanted to skin this girl and wear her pelt. Is that so wrong?...Mimi Smartypants

My blog, my rules. If you don’t like it, go to a public park and scream to your heart’s content....Rich Miller on how and why he edits public comments on Capitol Fax

The GOP primary is starting to look like a Pee Wee soccer tournament: Everyone gets a trophy!...John Dickerson, a fine line I thought I'd better post before it gets too dated.

History will judge (Gloria) Steinem and company very severely for their ethically obtuse indifference to the stream of working-class women and female subordinates whom Bill Clinton sexually harassed and abused, enabled by look-the-other-way and trash-the-victims Hillary....Camille Paglia

I heard his father came over here on a rowboat using just one arm! He used the other to salute the flag the entire trip...fromThe Legend of Barack Obama

Well, (Hillary Clinton's) main "experience" involved the comprehensive fouling-up of the nation's health-care arrangements, so as to make them considerably worse than they had been before and to create an opening for the worst-of-all-worlds option of the so-called HMO, combining as it did the maximum of capitalist gouging with the maximum of socialistic bureaucracy. This abysmal outcome, forgiven for no reason that I can perceive, was the individual responsibility of the woman who now seems to think it entitles her to the presidency.....Christopher Hitchens

You can safely assume that you've created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do...Anne Lamott

Monday, January 28, 2008

Clinton Launches ‘Rapid Responders’ In February 5th States--Supporters Will Rebut Attacks, Set The Record Straight

The Clinton campaign today announced the launch of the Rapid Responders, a national group of truth tellers who will respond to inaccurate or misleading attacks directed at Senator and President Clinton....

The Carolina Chocolate Drops performing "Hit Em Up Style" is YouTubed here. It's not my favorite song by the African-American string band that appeared at last weekend's Trad Fest at the Old Town School of Folk Music -- I go for the older material myself. But it best shows why Rhiannon Giddens could be (and might well turn out to be) a superstar in any number of genres. I haven't seen a more promising package of vocal and instrumental talent since a very young Alison Krauss blew away the crowd at the Indiana Fiddler's Gathering at Battle Ground in the early 1980s.

Advice to Sink In Slowly: Posters designed by graduates of University College Falmouth for the purpose of passing on snippets of wise counsel and inspiration to incoming freshmen.

Betty Bowers, "America's Best Christian," now has a blog."I suspect people who say `actions speak louder than words' are simply misguided connoisseurs of that odious and singularly French annoyance called mime;" "One of the many things Jesus and I can’t stand about Dr. Phil (is) the constant stream of self-consciously quaint, down-home, country-casual, easy-going phraseology." And more.

"Has anyone else tried pouring this stuff over dry cereal? A-W-E-S-O-M-E!" That's just one of the wry "customer reviews" of whole milk at Amazon.com. Others: "savor the goodness that only dairymen and dairywomen working at the apex of their craft can deliver." "Horrible service, I bought my milk and went with the 7-9 day super saver shipping method and it arrived warm and curdled. What the hell?" and "This product copiously leaks out of my nose whenever I read these reviews."

Friday, January 25, 2008

I can't tell who I'm running against sometimes....Barack Obama, referring in a recent debate to the extraordinary zeal with which former President Bill Clinton has been campaigning for Hillary Clinton.

He's running against both Clintons, obviously.

Not only has the former president been out on the trail slagging Obama daily, but also a central premise of Hillary Clinton's presidential bid is that Americans have fond memories of the Bill Clinton years and will vote for the revival that her candidacy portends.

A new radio spot in South Carolina and narrated by Bill Clinton makes this case explicitly:

I want to thank you for twice giving me the chance to serve as president. The 1990s were a time of prosperity. We created more than 22 million new jobs, moved eight million people out of poverty, and turned our economy around.

It’s time for another comeback, time to make America great again. I know Hillary’s the one that can do it.

The question is, should Obama pick up this gauntlet and campaign against the Clintons instead of simply campaigning against Hillary Clinton?

If you’re an elderly person whose income is $22,218 you can ride the bus for free.. But if your grandmother’s income is $22,219 she’s gotta pay. That’s not right.....Gov. Rod Blagojevich , explaining at a news conference Wednesday why he was opposed to proposed means testing to limit free rides to senior citizens.

I remember back in the dorm we used to trade sophomoric profundities like that.

Hey, how-come you can vote on the day your turn 18, but you can't vote the day before, when you're 17 and 364/365ths?

By junior year, though, most of us had come to realize that nearly every law, every rule draws bright lines. And though they may seem arbitrary and even absurd when examined in detail -- in basketball, why is a shot made with one toe on the 3-point line worth 33 percent less than a shot from one inch further away? --- life would be chaotic without them.

Indeed the whole concept of special treatment for seniors is also "not right" using the governor's own reasoning: If you're an elderly person who turns 65 tomorrow, you'll have to pay full-fare on bus and train. But your best friend who turned 65 last week gets to ride free.

Maybe the best answer here is to can all the distinctions and let everyone ride free. San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom asked his Municipal Transportation Agency last year to study the idea last year, and though that report is still pending, a $100,000 study (.pdf) released Thursday by the Nurture New York’s Nature Foundation argues that it can be and should be done in New York City.

How to pay for it?

1) a 24-hour $16 toll on autos and $32 on trucks crossing into Manhattan’s most congested area, the Central Business District at or below 60th Street2) a surcharge on medallion taxi fares3) higher curbside parking fees within and north of the Central Business District

BONUS TRACK: Gov. Blagojevich's poetic summary of the latest transit developments, as offered in the same news conference:

So all those dark clouds that were hovering over the CTAThey have rolled awayThe sun is gonna shineYou can now get on the Red LineThe Blue LineThe Brown LineThe Purple lineAnd everything will be just fine.

I missed this news release when it came out earlier this month from the Chicago Department of Revenue, but it seems like a big deal to me.

Cameras Installed on Boot Vans--Use of Technology Improves Efficiency

The Department of Revenue finalized installation of 26 boot vans with cameras that scan the license plates of parked vehicles on both sides of the street to determine boot-eligibility for unpaid tickets.

Prior to the roll-out of the LPR cameras, parking enforcement aides manually typed license plates into handheld devices to determine boot eligibility. This process allowed approximately 100 plates to be data entered into each handheld device per hour. In contrast, approximately 900 license plates can be read per hour by the cameras.

The Department expects a four percent increase in the number of booted vehicles in 2008, as compared with 2007. Further, 17 parking enforcement aides were re-deployed to parking ticket enforcement duties since license plate data entry is no longer required in the boot vans.

Additionally, before implementation of the LPR technology, individual uploads from the handheld devices were performed to track the number of boot-eligible plates identified. The manual uploads have been replaced with an automatic file transfer triggered by enforcement personnel at the end of each shift. The vans are equipped with surveillance cameras, global positioning satellite (GPS) tracking, and other features that provide security for enforcement personnel.

The four percent projected increase in the number of booted vehicles (about 2,400 more) seems very modest given that this techno-boost puts 17 new ticket writers on the street and allows the boot crews to process data nine times faster than before.

Revenue Dept. spokesman Ed Walsh said in an interview Friday afternoon that the projection is probably conservative, but "we want to take a wait and see approach.

When employees are fired or laid off at the workplace, it's now common for them to be immediately escorted out of the building under the close supervision of security personnel and the pitying eyes of their fellow employees.

But even if they're allowed to leave with quiet dignity, that still sounds like the more dreadful and colder experience: To be on display in all your shock, grief and anger in front of colleagues and friends seems far worse to me than absorbing the news in private, surrounded by the comforts of home.

I've heard some say that it's cowardly for managers not to deliver this kind of news face-to-face -- not to observe first-hand the devastation that such news can bring; not to absorb the brunt of the first reaction, which may include recriminatory remarks.

And that may be. I've never had to fire anyone or lay anyone off, but I can't imagine anyone likes to do it or doesn't look for ways to make it easier on themselves.

I've also never been fired or laid off, so I can't say for sure which method of dismissal I'd prefer. But in my dating days I was handed my walking papers romantically in person, on the phone and, once, via a note passed in class. And by far the most excruciating breakups were the ones done in person.

There was nothing more to say, yet we always kept talking and made things worse.

What do you think? Given that there's no good way to deliver bad news, how would you prefer to receive it?

See also:You've got mail: 'We're letting you go' --Impersonal 'cyber-firings' via e-mail – even text message – have become an expedient way to lay employees off. The Christian Science Monitor September 18, 2006

About "Change of Subject."

"Change of Subject" by Chicago Tribune op-ed columnist Eric Zorn contains observations, reports, tips, referrals and tirades, though not necessarily in that order. Links will tend to expire, so seize the day. For an archive of Zorn's latest Tribune columns click here. An explanation of the title of this blog is here. If you have other questions, suggestions or comments, send e-mail to ericzorn at gmail.com.
More about Eric Zorn

Contributing editor Jessica Reynolds is a 2012 graduate of Loyola University Chicago and is the coordinator of the Tribune's editorial board. She can be reached at jreynolds at tribune.com.